Refrigerator with a display module

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator comprises one or more chamber to store food or beverage; a power source provided in the refrigerator to provide power; a compressor equipped in the refrigerator and couple to the power source to compress gas to generate refrigerant gas in the chamber; a door attached on the refrigerator; a display panel equipped on the door; an image capturing device set in the chamber, wherein the image capturing device is electrically coupled to the display panel.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a freezer and moreparticularly to a device to display the items in a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In order to keep temperature-sensitive foodstuffs, especially beverages,an electrically refrigerated cabinet has been used. In refrigerationsystems, a refrigerant gas is compressed in a compressor unit. Heatgenerated by the compression is then removed generally by passing thecompressed gas through a water or air cooled condenser coil.

A problem which has arisen with such refrigeration is that when thefront door is opened too often, the extremely cold air within thechamber tends to spill out through the front opening of therefrigeration. This not only undesirably increases the temperature ofthe refrigeration chamber, but places increased loads on therefrigeration unit as it must operate on a more continuous basis toaccount for all of the lost cold air from within the chamber.

It would therefore be desirable to provide an advanced freezer whichallowed monitoring the item contain therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention also provides many additional advantages whichshall become apparent as described below.

The object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator with adisplay module.

The object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator with aRF (radio frequency) module.

A refrigerator comprises one or more chamber to store food or beverage.A power source is provided for the refrigerator. A compressor isequipped in the refrigerator and couple to the power source to compressgas to generate refrigerant gas in the chamber. A door is attached onthe refrigerator; a display panel equipped on the door. The displaypanel is equipped on the refrigerator. The image capturing device is setin the one or more chamber used to capture the image of the food orbeverage stored in the one or more chamber, wherein the display panel iscoupled to the image capturing device for displaying the image capturedby the image capturing device. The image capturing device is embedded inthe wall of the chamber. The refrigerator further comprises anillumination device set in the chamber to provide the illumination forthe image capturing device.

FIG. 1 shows a function diagram of a refrigerator according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 shows a refrigerator according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a display panel according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is provided to enable any person skilled inthe art to make and use the invention. Various modifications, however,will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art, since thegeneric principles of the present invention have been defined hereinspecifically to provide an overall method and devices for a food storagetracking system.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an illustration and a block diagram of the presentinvention. The refrigerator 100 has one or more chamber 10 to store foodor beverage as know in the art. A power source 24 is provided in therefrigerator 100 to provide the power needed. A compressor 12 isequipped in the refrigerator 100 and couple to power source 24 tocompress gas to generate refrigerant gas in the chamber 10. Heatgenerated by the compression is then removed generally by passing thecompressed gas through a water or air cooled condenser coil. One or morefront door 16 is attached on the refrigerator 100 and could be pivotallyopened. A control circuits 110 is embedded in the refrigerator 100 toprocess the command, signal and instruction from the user.

One aspect of the present invention is that a display panel 18 isequipped on the refrigerator, preferably, on the front door 16 andcoupled to the power source 24 and the control circuits 110. One or moreimage capturing device 20 is set in the chamber 10. The image capturingdevice 20 is electrically (or optically) coupled to the display panel18, control circuits 110. The image capturing device 20 is set in thechamber 10. A switch 22 is provided on the display panel 18 used toturn-on the image capturing device 20. An illumination device 26 is setin the chamber 10 also to provide the illumination for the imagecapturing device 20 when the image capturing device 20 is power on. Theimage capturing device 20 and the illumination device 26 could bebuilt-in on or in the wall of the chamber 10. The image capturing device20 could capture the image in the chamber 10, therefore, the image ofthe items stored in the chamber 10 could be taken or shot by the imagecapturing device 20. The image capturing device 20 could be, forexample, digital still camera, digital video camera, CCD, CMOS sensor orpinhole camera. The illumination device 26 could be LED, UV lightsource, lamp or the like. The frequency range of the illumination sourcemay range from substantially 10E13-10E16 Hz. If the image capturingdevice is capable of operating in the infrared ray spectrum range, theillumination device 26 could be omitted. If the illumination device mayilluminate UV-ray spectrum, the bacteria will be eliminated or killed bythe UV ray. When the image capturing device 20 is on, the image in thechamber 10 can be captured and send it to the display panel 18, therebydisplaying captured image in the form of video or picture on the displaypanel 18, allowing the user to watch image on the display panel and takea look at what items are stored in the chamber and their location. Theimage capturing device 20 could be set in each layer of the chamber 10depending on the necessary. This will provide relative ease to monitorthe stored food item without opening the door of the refrigerator. Inone embodiment, a LCD screen is provided for the display panel todisplay item in the chamber 10. Other type display could also be usedsuch as plasma display panel, LED display panel, CRT, FED display panel,EL panel, OEL and OLED panel. The panel further includes On/Off button,a Mode button. A low-power CMOS (complementary metal oxidesemiconductor) microprocessor with integral FLASH maybe employed. Amolded plastic case for the screen encloses the circuit board. Power isprovided by batteries or, alternately, by the refrigerator itself. Theimage capturing device 20 includes a charged coupled device (referred toas “CCD”). Further, the image capturing device 20 has the zoom-in andzoom-out functions controlled by the mode button described in FIG. 4.Memory means 22 is coupled to the image capturing device 20 for storinga single frame image that is generated by image signal from the CCD,wires are used to connect the control circuits 110, power source 24 andthe display 18. A conical convex lens is accommodated to have an apicalangle and the apex is fixed so as to face the object. The imagecapturing device 20 is available to catch image of an object.

The details of the base unit now having been explained, one can readilyunderstand the functioning of the entire method. For example, one woulddiscover what item stored in the chamber and their location from thedisplay panel. Another embodiment of the present invention furtherincludes a wireless or wired transmission/receiving module 30 coupled tothe image capturing device 20 and the control circuit 110. The wirelessor wired transmission/receiving module 30 could be set adjacent to thedisplay panel 18. It should be noted, it is not the only way to set thewireless or wired transmission/receiving module module. Thetransmission/receiving module could be wired (such as ADSL cable orEthernet device) or wireless transmission (RF, blue-tooth or 802.11xavailable device). Take the RF module as an example, as know in the art,the RF (wireless transmission/receiving) module includes an antennaconnected to a transceiver which is used to receive and transmit signal.As know, the RF module may further include, base band processing unit,DSP and A/D converter. The received signal will turn on the vibrationmode or speaker of the cellular phone in the mobile phone application.In the present invention, the received signal will be used to power onthe image capturing device 20 (and the illumination device 26). Due tothe RF module is not the feature of the present invention, therefore,the detailed description is omitted. The captured image can betransmitted through the RF module 30 by operation frequency while theimage capturing device is in function. The captured result can be sendto a remote terminal 32 with a transceiver 32 a and a display screen 32b, thereby allowing the user to check what item left in therefrigerator. The user may determine what should be supplied. The remoteterminal 32 could be, such as remote computer system, portable device(cellular) or TV set. The signal could be transmitted or receivedthrough wired network or wireless transmission.

The present invention discloses and provides a method of monitoring foodor beverage in a refrigerator. In step 300, an image capturing device isprovided and set in one or more chamber of the refrigerator. Then, nextstep 310 is to switch on the image capturing device (and theillumination device) to capture the image of the food or beverage storedin the one or more chamber by pushing a button on the refrigerator orremote control through a RF module. Then, the captured image is send 320to a display panel, wherein the display panel is coupled to the imagecapturing device for displaying the captured image. As aforementioned,the display panel is set on the refrigerator or remote terminal. If thedisplay panel is set on the remote terminal, a RF module is necessaryfor the refrigerator. Thus, the method further comprises the stepsbefore capturing the image of the food or beverage: 330 transmitting asignal from a remote terminal to switch on the image capturing device;340 receiving the signal by the RF module (transmission/receivingmodule). The method further comprises the step before transmitting thecaptured image: 350 sending the captured image to the RF module andtransmitting the captured image by the RF module to the remote terminal.

FIG. 4 shows the more advanced version of the current invention. An LCDscreen 42 is provided for the display panel to display items captured bythe image capturing device. Below the LCD 42 are an On/Off button 44, alayer selection button 46, and a mode button 48 which provide thefunction of zoom-in and zoom out. At the bottom of the unit are amicrophone 50 and a speaker 52 when the instruction input unit includesvoice activated technology. A molded plastic case for the screen andother function keys encloses the circuit board. Power on the LCD screen,the cursor is displayed at the beginning. To enter a selected layer, theuser moves the cursor on the display. Next the user simply presses theselected layer and the corresponding image capturing device is power on.

As will be understood by persons skilled in the art, the foregoingpreferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrative of thepresent invention rather than limiting the present invention. Havingdescribed the invention in connection with a preferred embodiment,modification will now suggest itself to those skilled in the art. Thus,the invention is not to be limited to this embodiment, but rather theinvention is intended to cover various modifications and similararrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures. While the preferred embodiment of the invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changescan be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A refrigerator comprising: one or more chamber to store food orbeverage; a compressor equipped in the refrigerator to compress gas togenerate refrigerant gas in the one or more chamber; a display panelequipped on the refrigerator; and an image capturing device set in theone or more chamber used to capture the image of the food or beveragestored in the one or more chamber, wherein the display panel is coupledto the image capturing device for displaying the image captured by theimage capturing device.
 2. The refrigerator of claim 1, furthercomprising an illumination device set in the chamber to provide theillumination for the image capturing device.
 3. The refrigerator ofclaim 2, wherein the illumination device includes LED, UV-light or lamp.4. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the image capturing device isselected from the group consisting of digital still camera, digitalvideo camera, CCD, CMOS sensor and pinhole camera.
 5. The refrigeratorof claim 1, further comprising a transmission/receiving module set inthe refrigerator to transmit the captured image to a remote terminal. 6.The refrigerator of claim 6, wherein the remote terminal comprises areceiver and a display, thereby allowing a user to check what item is inthe refrigerator.
 7. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the displaypanel is selected from the group consisting of LCD panel, plasma displaypanel, LED display panel, CRT, FED display panel, EL panel, OEL and OLEDpanel.
 8. A refrigerator comprising: one or more chamber to store foodor beverage; a compressor equipped in the refrigerator to compress gasto generate refrigerant gas in the chamber; an image capturing deviceset in the one or more chamber used to capture the image of the food orbeverage stored in the one or more chamber; and a transmission/receivingmodule set in the refrigerator and coupled to the image capturing deviceto transmit the image captured by the image capturing device to a remoteterminal.
 9. The refrigerator of claim 8, further comprising anillumination device set in the chamber to provide the illumination forthe image capturing device.
 10. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein theillumination device includes LED, UV-light or lamp.
 11. The refrigeratorof claim 8, wherein the image capturing device is selected from thegroup consisting of digital still camera, digital video camera, CCD,CMOS sensor and pinhole camera.
 12. The refrigerator of claim 8, furthercomprising a display panel equipped on the refrigerator and coupled tothe image capturing device.
 13. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein theremote terminal comprises a transceiver and a display, thereby allowinga user to check what item is in the refrigerator.
 14. The refrigeratorof claim 8, wherein the display panel is selected from the groupconsisting of LCD panel, plasma display panel, LED display panel, CRT,FED display panel, EL panel, OEL and OLED panel.
 15. A method ofmonitoring food or beverage in a refrigerator comprising: providing animage capturing device in one or more chamber of the refrigerator;switching on the image capturing device to capture the image of the foodor beverage stored in the one or more chamber; transmitting the capturedimage to a display panel set on the refrigerator or a remote terminalfor displaying the captured image.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising following steps before capturing the image of the food orbeverage stored in the one or more chamber: transmitting a signal fromthe remote terminal to switch on the image capturing device; andreceiving the signal by a RF module set for the refrigerator.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising following step beforetransmitting the captured image: sending the captured image to the RFmodule; transmitting the captured image by the RF module to the remoteterminal.